whale padHow it works
Alone you're bait: you buy after the snipers, at their price. Together you're the whale: the school's money is the first buy in the coin's life, and every wallet in the school gets the same price.
A school launch
A dev opens a launch with a name, a ticker, a picture, a min target, a cap and a raise window. Wallets pledge SOL into the school. When the school fires, the coin is created and the school's pooled SOL makes the coin's first buy in the same transaction. The tokens are then split pro rata to every wallet, in the same Jito bundle. One block, one price, one receipt per wallet.
The dev buy is the community. The dev can pledge like anyone else; there is no separate dev allocation.
Step by step
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Start | The dev's wallet signs a text that states every term (target, cap, window, fire mode, fee split). Free; nothing moves. The ticker is reserved on the pad from this moment. |
| Pledge | Your wallet opens a small durable nonce account (0.00145 SOL rent, yours, refundable) and signs two transactions in one prompt: the pledge (your SOL + 0.0025 SOL launch costs to the launch wallet, plus a 0.00002 SOL Jito tip) and its void. Both wait on your nonce. Nothing moves. |
| Raising | The launch page shows every wallet, its SOL, linked X handles and whether it can still pay, live. Cancel any time: one click closes your nonce, the pledge can never land, the rent comes back. |
| Fire | Cap mode: the moment the cap fills, or at the end of the window if the min target can pay. Set time: at that time, if the min target can pay. Can-pay is re-checked right before; a wallet that can't pay is skipped and shown. |
| Seconds | Every pledge that can pay lands in the launch wallet. A lookup table with every wallet and token account is written so the split fits in the bundle. |
| Block 0 | One Jito bundle, all or nothing: tx 1 creates the coin and makes the school's one buy; tx 2 to 5 split the tokens to every wallet. The launch wallet ends with 0 tokens and 0 SOL. |
| Receipts | The CA shows on the launch page the instant the bundle lands. Every wallet gets a row on Receipts with its tokens and the signature. |
| If it fails | If the bundle doesn't land, every wallet is refunded automatically: its pledge and its launch costs. The refund signatures are on the launch page and on Receipts. |
| Short of the target | At the deadline below the min target, nothing moves. The keeper sends the void you signed, which kills the pledge for good. |
Custody, plainly
Your SOL sits in your own wallet while the school raises. At the fire it moves to the launch wallet and, seconds later, the launch bundle spends it on the school's buy. Those seconds are the only custody. It is automated, and if the bundle fails every wallet is refunded automatically.
The launch wallet is a dedicated hot wallet that does nothing else. It must end every launch empty (0 tokens, 0 SOL beyond dust); the keeper checks that after every launch and stops if it doesn't hold.
Snipers: what's guaranteed and what isn't
Guaranteed: nobody buys before the school. The school's buy is in the same transaction as the create, so nothing can sit between them. And the coin's address is secret until that bundle lands: it is made on our server, kept encrypted, and used for the first time in block 0.
Not guaranteed: snipers can buy right after the school, in the same block or the next. They pay more than the school did: the school bought at the start of the curve.
Copies
On whale pad each ticker launches once for free. The first launch of a ticker gets a verified original badge, and the ticker is reserved from the moment its school starts raising. Once the original has launched, someone else can reuse the ticker for 1 SOL (to the treasury), without the badge.
Copies on other pads (pump.fun and the rest) can't be stopped. They can be made pointless: the original has the school, the badge and the CA on this site first.
Fees and burns
Every launch's creator-fee shares are fixed when it starts (the dev signs them) and can't be changed afterwards:
| Share | Goes to |
|---|---|
| 40% | The dev. |
| 35% | Buys back and burns $WHALEPAD. |
| 25% | Buys back and burns the launched coin. A dev can raise this out of their own share, never lower it below 25%. |
The creator fee collects in the launch's own fee vault. The crank claims it hourly, splits it by those shares and posts a receipt for every payout, buy-back and burn. Other fees:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Every curve trade (the school's buy included) | 1% platform fee to the treasury, 0.25% creator fee into the split above, 0.25% to Raydium |
| After graduation (about 85 SOL raised) | The pool's LP is locked in Raydium Burn & Earn (its fee key held by the treasury), and the pool's creator fee keeps the same split. |
| Per launch, from the pool | 0.015 SOL: the coin's create, the lookup table and the bundle tip. Surplus to the treasury. |
| Launch costs per wallet | 0.0025 SOL: its token account and its share of the network costs. Whatever is left goes to the treasury. |
| Nonce account rent | 0.00145 SOL, refundable |
| Ticker reuse | 1 SOL, only after the original launched |
| Raises | 1% of each pledge, only if it pays out |
| Whale ups | 0.3% of each buy, only if it fills (1M+ $WHALEPAD holders pay none) |
Other launches
Instant launch
For a dev who wants to launch alone: the coin is created and the dev's own first buy goes in the same transaction, signed in the dev's wallet. Same curve, same creator-fee split and burns, same ticker rule and the same mint-key pool (most CAs end in whale). No school.
Whale up
A school buy on a coin that already trades on a pump.fun curve: wallets pledge a buy with their own price cap, and when the target number of wallets is in, every buy lands in the same few blocks. Whale ups on whale pad's own coins are not built yet.
Raises
All or nothing, on pre-signed transfers. It pays out only if pledges that can still pay reach the goal in time. Fee: 1% of each pledge, only if it pays out.
Questions
Is this a bundle?
Not a bundle, a school. Every wallet in block 0 is a real person who pledged on this site, and every one of them is on the receipts page with its SOL, its tokens and the signature. Scanners flag same-block buys because that is what they look for. They will flag a school too. The receipts are the answer.
Who holds my SOL, and for how long?
You do, while the school raises: your pledge is a transaction on your own nonce account that nobody has sent. At the fire it lands in the launch wallet, and seconds later the launch bundle spends it on the school's buy. If the bundle fails, you are refunded automatically.
What if the launch bundle fails?
Every wallet that paid in gets its pledge and its launch costs back automatically, with a refund signature on the launch page and on Receipts. The keeper only refunds after every attempt's blockhash has expired and the coin provably doesn't exist, so a late landing can never double-spend.
Can snipers still get in?
Not before the school: the school's buy is in the create transaction, and the coin's address is secret until it lands. Right after the school, yes, at a higher price.
Why does my share go down as more wallets join?
The school makes one buy with everyone's SOL and splits the tokens pro rata. A bigger school buys more of the supply in total, but each SOL buys a little less, because the buy moves the curve. Everyone in the school pays the same average price.
How long does my pledge stay valid?
For the whole window. It waits on your own durable nonce account, not on a recent blockhash, so it doesn't expire after a minute like a normal transaction. You can cancel it any time.
Doesn't a long public raise give copycats time?
Yes, a raise of 6 to 72 hours is public for that long, and a copy can launch on another pad. It can't win against the school's block-0 money, the badge, or the CA on this site. If a dev wants to keep the name hidden, teaser mode shows only a codename and a concept until block 0.
What if the school doesn't reach the target?
Nothing moves. At the deadline the keeper sends the void you signed, which kills your pledge for good. Even without the keeper, a pledge only lands if someone sends it, and you can cancel it yourself.
What if I spend my SOL after pledging?
Then you can't pay at the fire. The launch page shows "can't pay now" next to your wallet, the keeper re-checks every balance right before the fire and skips you, and the school fires with the wallets that can pay if the target is still met.
Why at most 112 wallets?
Because the whole school has to fit in one Jito bundle: five transactions, one of them the create and the buy. We measured how many token transfers fit in each of the other four on mainnet and enforce a cap just under it.
Can the dev rug?
The dev can sell like anyone else; that doesn't change. What the dev can't do: buy before the school, change the name, ticker or fee split after the start, or touch the school's SOL (it goes from your wallet to the launch wallet to the curve, inside the pad's own code). A dev who pledges into their own school is just one more wallet on the receipts.
What is the verified original badge?
The first launch of a ticker on whale pad. The ticker is reserved while that school raises; reusing it after it launched costs 1 SOL and gets no badge.